Fix TRICARE Plus

I am a current active duty military service member with 15 years of active federal service to my country. I am also a mother, and a daughter.

My 56 year old mother witnessed her husband, who was on a scooter, get hit and killed by a car in 2014. The horrific experience caused her to develop PTSD, depression, anxiety, sleep problems, and eventually alcoholism. She received a DUI last summer, which caused a domino effect of her losing her job, health insurance, and eventually, her home. I was able to have her move in with me and have her added as my dependent, which means she can live with and move with me.

But unfortunately the only healthcare option that TRICARE provides for dependent parents is TRICARE Plus, which is basically just a supplemental coverage and doesn't even meet the minimum coverage requirements of the Affordable care act. She can only be seen at a military treatment facility (or MTF) and only on a space available basis. We currently live in South FL so the MTFs are all at least 2 hours away, and none of them accept dependent parents. In the meantime she desperately needs medical care!

My hope is to get TRICARE to recognize dependent parents as equally eligible for the level of healthcare that military spouses and children receive. They should NOT be treated as second class citizens and pushed to the side. At the very least, TRICARE should authorize referrals to civilian providers for dependent parents, and cover the cost, so as not to take away MTF resources from service members.